State's top court stops opening Senate race's disputed ballots

Friday

Jan 11, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Michael Novinson

ALBANY - The state's top court has temporarily halted opening 99 disputed ballots from the 46th Senate District.The stay will remain in effect until the Court of Appeals decides on hearing Republican George Amedore's appeal. Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk has until Monday to argue against having the court take the case. Amedore leads Tkaczyk by 37 votes overall, but an Appellate Court panel ruled Wednesday that 99 additional ballots should be opened. Eighty-five of those 99 ballots were initially challenged by Republicans.The top court accepted just 7.4 percent of appeal requests in 2011, a spokesman said. The court will decide whether or not to take the case after receiving Tkaczyk's papers.